The Perfect Scene
by Fluff.and.Rainbows
Summary: Roxas and Sora are both having problems with their older brothers. The only way their parents can think of to help them is a change of setting. It's a good thing both sets of parents think Twilight Town is the perfect scene. Yaoi. A.U. DISCONTINUED.
1. Don't Turn Away!

Classic Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, VIII, Kingdom Hearts, or any of the characters mentioned in the story below. I also do not own the lyrics included, they belong to Mercy Mercedes and their licensing company. _The Perfect Scene, _is also named after a song by the same title, which just so happens to be the same one the lyrics come from. Huzzah.

WARNING: Gay. Of course. Mentions of character death. Some characters probably depicted out of character, no matter how hard I try to remedy that. The usual, I guess. A.U.

* * *

**All in all, it's the perfect scene and there's not/anywhere that I would rather be and it's now/  
now or never when we're chasing our dreams/We're getting close now, don't turn away!**

_Roxas._

When Zack died, my brother had been a mess. Zack had been his best friend, after all. Cloud wouldn't come out of his room for days, and when he did, it was to talk to Arieth. The three of them, along with Tifa, had been the Fabulous Four at our house. They stuck together, always. Without Zack, a corner piece in the artwork that was them, it all...began to fall apart. Our family began to drift, too.

I had told Cloud, "I'm sorry."

He had sighed and said, "It's not your fault..."

I had never been so irrationally annoyed in my life. I _knew _it wasn't my fault, but I wanted to apologize anyway. I can express my sympathy and not be responsible, can't I?

I guess that's when things started to crack and fall apart on the family side of the problem. Everything really hit the fan, though, when Arieth died.

She had been murdered. Sephiroth, a man a little older than Cloud who Cloud has admired almost as much as Zack, was believed to be the culprit. It was never decided, however.

Cloud began to go a little crazy after that. Out of the Fabulous Four, only he and Tifa were left. She wasn't enough, not for him. He began to mistake his own memories with Zack's. Sometimes, he'd forget I was his brother. He'd confuse Tifa with Arieth, go silent in the middle of a conversation, and was always stony faced. Dad didn't know what to do. Mom didn't either. They wanted to get us away from the horrible atmosphere that had settled over the house, but they didn't know who to send where.

In the end, it was Cid who saved us.

After Dad vented to his brother about the state of his oldest child's mind, Cid (in his own gruff manner) offered to look after me, to make sure I didn't wander down the same road Cloud had found himself on. He needed help in his shop anyway because "those triplets were just good for nothin's most of the time."

The night before Cid was going to come pick me up, Cloud stepped into my room. For the first time since Arieth died, he looked..._normal. _Upset, but normal.

"Roxas?" He said softly.

I looked up from my laptop to see him gazing at a spot just above my head. He was never good with eye contact. I tried to respect that. "Yeah?"

"...Why are you leaving?"

I frowned and set my computer down on my bed side table. "Dad wants to make sure I don't--"

"End up like me?"

I stopped and frowned again. "Cloud...It's just that-- You're not--...Yeah. Yeah, to make sure I don't end up like you. You're right." I didn't mean to sound..._cruel_, but the way my brother narrowed his eyes at that one spot on my wall made me realize I had. "I'm sorry," I found myself saying.

He shrugged. "It's not your fault." Before I was able to feel irrationally annoyed by that statement, again, he walked over and sat down on the edge of my bed. An awkward silence settled over us. "I don't want you to go," he said finally.

I guess there's something you should know about Cloud and me. We're brothers, yeah, but we've never been all that close. Sure, he'd help me out when I needed him to, and I had always been there when he needed to vent and couldn't reach another member of the Fabulous Four, but...He had never been my hero. I had never looked up to him. I had always just thought of him as that guy that I looked like, who slept a door down from me, and, oh, yeah, I could _occasionally _call my friend. Don't get me wrong, I love my brother. It's just...It was like he was the younger one, especially when Zack was around. At times, I would catch him copying Zack. It was like he was trying to _be_ Zack. He even developed a crush on Arieth when she and Fair started dating. Tifa certainly hadn't been happy about that...

I chewed on the inside of my cheek and watched the light catch Cloud's ear rings before I was finally able to come up with something to say. "I don't...really want to leave, either."

Cloud straightened his posture, shaking off the air of sadness that had been hanging over him when he walked in. "It's for the best, though." With that, he stood up and walked out, shutting my door behind him. The only light left in the room was the glow from my computer screen, but that soon shut off, too, going into power save mode.

I sighed and tried to get some sleep that night.

Cid moved me out of Midgar and to Radiant Garden, his home town. I didn't have to stay there long, though, because Cid got a job offer in Twilight Town that was much better than the one he had there. I ended up going with him. Mom and Dad, hearing about Twilight Town from Shera, Cid's wife, decided it was the perfect place for Cloud, too. Calm, mellow, peaceful...Perfect.

There, we met the Leonharts.

* * *

_Sora._

My brother was a nice guy. Quiet and a little awkward sometimes, of course, but nice when you really got down to it. He was always _especially_ nice when Rinoa was around. Of course, he got a lot more _awkward_, too. She was really sweet about it, though. She was one of the only people who could get my brother to open up. He was normally really indifferent and almost cold, but she could make him smile. I loved her for that. I still do.

Then, Seifer came along.

He and my brother were rivals at first, both of them trying to be the best they could be at everything in order to one up each other. As an added bonus, they both loved Rinoa. Somewhere along the line, Seifer and Squall ended up at least respecting each other. They certainly didn't _like_ each other, but Squall confessed to me one day that he looked up to Seifer. That was as good as it was going to get.

They had a tentative friendship going, and then Rinoa died. She had gotten run over. Squall had been with her. Seifer blamed him for the accident, and the two of them got into an all out fight. They have matching scars to prove it.

Squall then stopped calling himself by his first name, choosing to be called "Leon," instead. He never out right explained the reason why to me, but I gathered that it was because he wanted to distance himself from the person that had stood by and watched Rinoa die. Seifer moved to Twilight Town. Mom and Dad had us moved out to Destiny Islands.

I loved it there. Leon, not so much. The place was full of sun, surf, and sand, and Leon didn't exactly enjoy that, but I ate it up. There, I met Riku and Kairi. They became my best friends. Leon met Selphie and they sort of got a friendship going. It was more of a one sided thing, of course, since Selphie did most of the talking. Mom and Dad joined us eventually, and though they loved the small town feel, they said we couldn't stay forever.

I made the most of the time I had with Riku and Kairi. Riku got me to toughen up and, though I don't think he's aware of this last bit, helped me realize my sexual orientation. Kairi played a helping hand in that, too, but she knows that.

One pleasant summer day, Dad broke the news that we would be moving to Twilight Town.

Kairi gave me a charm made out of sea shells on the day we left, telling me to keep it and to one day give it back to her. I promised her I would. Riku gave me this look that I _still_ don't know the meaning of and told me to take care. I feel guilty about it, but I know I miss him more than I miss Kairi, though I do miss her immensely. Those two were the best friends I had ever had or probably ever will have, no matter how I feel about the friends I have now. No one can compare to them.

Leon was pleased to be moving, I knew that much. Again, he didn't say it out loud, but I knew. Living with the guy for my entire life, I had learned to read him, how ever little. Selphie cried when we left, of course. Leon had looked incredibly uncomfortable when she hugged him good bye. He kept this disgruntled, almost disgusted look on his face during a good majority of the car ride. It was funny until he hit me for laughing.

Unlike a lot of siblings, Leon and I have never argued. We've fought physically, of course, that much I hope is obvious, but we've never verbally argued. He just isn't the type and neither am I. I do look up to my brother, though Riku out shines him in my eyes a lot of the time. I'd like to say Leon and I are close, but I don't think that's the case. I may be optimistic, but I'm not blind. I can be realistic sometimes, too, you know. Though we may not be all that close, we're still brothers, and though Leon may never admit to it, we still love each other.

That's why, when we got to Twilight Town, I punched someone in the face for the first time in my life.

I had completely forgotten Seifer had moved to the same town earlier, and the first words out of his mouth to my brother had been, "What the _hell _do you think you're doing here, you son of a bitch?"

I actually feel guilty about hitting him, believe it or not. I gave him a black eye.

Leon actually told me, out loud and everything, that he was proud of me for that but to not go around hitting people in the face anymore. I was bound to get my butt kicked that way, he said, though not exactly in those words. I practically glowed. Leon hardly ever gives praise.

We weren't the only people moving to Twilight Town around that time, either. The Highwind family moved there, too, though it was more like the half-Highwind, half-Strife family, though I guess they were all related somehow.

I know I said no one matches up to Riku and Kairi in the best friend department, but Roxas comes pretty damn close. He's not _exactly _my best friend, though. My Twilight Town best friend would be Demyx. No, Roxas is more than that, but I guess I'm getting ahead of myself.

It's easy to say, though, that the Strife kids changed mine _and _my brother's lives, just...not as soon as we met.

* * *

_Author's Notes:_ Oh, Lordy, what am I doing, starting another series like this? I don't know! My friend just texts me to say her grandmother died yesterday morning, and I go, "Wow." And, not to her of course, I say, "Story idea. How 'bout that." Is that heartless of me? (Oh, ha ha, I almost capitalized "heartless." Funny.)

This is actually a Roxas/Sora/Roxas story with a side of Leon/Cloud/Leon, and even a dash of Seifer/Hayner. I like my boys occasionally topping from the bottom, can you tell? There will also be mentions of past Zack/Arieth, Squall/Rinoa & Seifer/Rinoa, and some hinting at Riku/Kairi, and one sided Sora/Riku & Sora/Kairi, and Tifa/Cloud & Cloud/Arieth.

_What? _I can do het, too, you know! And, wow, cluster fuck of pairings, huh? Damn. Didn't really notice. Whoops. I hope that's not, like, confusing or anything.

Oh, and this is in first person from both Sora _and _Roxas' point of view. I switch it up some. Lol, ignore One Republic for right now. They'll come later. To those of you that have already read this chapter, I changed the song lyrics. It's not _important_, of course, but I just though I should at least make the lyrics fitting. And what could be more fitting than the title's name sake? This _is_ the prologue, after all. It's also why this chapter is so short. Oh, and did you notice (probably not) that both Roxas and Sora's point of views have forty lines? I made sure of that. I want to make sure they both have an equal amount of stuff to say. They _do_ share the spot of main character, you know.

Also, guess who the triplets Cid mentioned in Roxas' point of view are. I dare you. Think Donald Duck.


	2. The Game of Life

Classic Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII, VIII, Kingdom Hearts, or any of the characters mentioned in the story below. I also do not own the lyrics included, they belong to Everlife and their licensing company. _The Perfect Scene_, is also named after a song by the same title by the band Mercy Mercedes. Huzzah.

WARNING: Gay. Of course. Mentions of character death. Some characters probably depicted out of character, no matter how hard I try to remedy that. The usual, I guess. A.U.

_Honorary Mention: _Doe-Meki, for an awesome review that helped me dig myself out of the hole I'd gotten myself into. Writer's block _sucks_. Your review had me grinning a bit like an idiot, so thanks!

* * *

**Just when you learned the game of life/All the rules change overnight/Whoa, whoa go figure.  
It seems so wrong to even try/But taking a chance never felt so right/Whoa, whoa go figure.**

_Roxas._

No matter how many times it happens to you, being the new kid is never easy, even if you're a people person. I happen to _not be_, so going to school on my first day in Twilight Town was just that much worse. I guess word had gotten around, Twilight Town being a real community oriented place with a not-so-small-but-small-enough population, that Cloud and I hadn't exactly moved here with our parents. I guess word also got around that Cloud didn't exactly have a clear mind set. That didn't help my first day be anything near a bowl of kittens, either.

Thank God we weren't the only pair of new kids, either. Another boy was coming into sophomore year with me, his older brother going into senior year with Cloud. I didn't have high hopes that most of the attention would go toward them and not us, but I had some. I heard that the kid my age was a real crowd pleas-er, all smiles and laughter. His brother was apparently a hard ass, but who's wasn't these days? He already had an arch nemesis, if the school hall gossip was to be believed. That ought to attract more attention than a grumpy almost-sixteen-year-old and his almost-crazy-but-not-quite-there-yet older brother, right?

For once, I can happily say that I'm glad I was wrong.

Shera offered to drive us to school, since Twilight Town was one hell of a long, well, town, but we declined. Cloud had his beloved motorcycle Cid had given him he was itching to try out. He punched me in the chest (my nipple, to be painfully precise. It _hurt_,) when I heard him call his new baby _Fenrir_, and he also threatened to feed me my skateboard if I ever mentioned it to anyone. I dutifully said I wouldn't and wheeled as fast as I could in his opposite direction. That, unfortunately, had me late for my first hour, since I had also gone in the school's opposite direction.

I managed to get my schedule, locker number and combination, my books, and a note from the office to excuse my impending lateness before I heard word of the Leonharts. I didn't catch a glimpse of the kid my age because he actually managed to get to school on time. His locker was three down from mine, though, since all of the sophomore lockers were apparently grouped together. It was where I was first introduced to the gossip mill and my future best friend, though.

I wasn't the only kid late to school that achingly bright Monday morning. A kid with the waviest spiked hair I had ever seen scrambled over to the locker next to mine, expertly spinning the combination in. I was, sadly, fumbling with mine. After doing a double take when he saw me, he took pity on my sad, sad effort at opening my own locker.

"Need help, man?"

I sighed, stepped back, motioned hopelessly at it with a wave of my hand, and said, "Please."

I gave him my combination and in, I kid you not, five seconds flat, he had my locker open. Grinning far too egotistically for my taste, he edged back over into his own territory and introduced himself. "Name's Hayner. You must be one of the new kids."

I snorted and shoved my skateboard into my locker as gently as possible. My baby, though not as expensive as Cloud's, was _still _my baby. I loved her dearly. Though, I wasn't going to _name_ mine anytime soon. "Must be. I'm Roxas." I managed to fumble my books into some shelves, grabbing the ones I knew I'd probably need, and slammed my locker shut again, locking it in order to keep my baby safe. I figured I'd need help opening it back up, but if that's what it took to keep my board safe, then so be it. I'd had it stolen one too many times in Midgar to not be paranoid.

Hayner grabbed a disgustingly orange binder and slammed his locker shut, too, though far louder than I had mine. It made my ears ring. "You're the one with the psycho older brother, right? And what kind of name is _Roxas?"_

Scowling, I fished my schedule out of my pocket. Noting my room number, I crunched the paper into my palm and muttered, "So what? And what kind of name is _Hayner?" _I almost called him Hay-_nerd_ just for calling Cloud psycho but didn't. We aren't that close, remember?

He put his hands up in surrender and started walking in the same direction I was. With my luck, we probably had the same first block. "Woah, man, sorry. It's just what the crowd's been calling him, alright? And don't start on the name, I've gotten enough shit about it from _Seifer_." He said the name like a curse word, and I jotted that down into my memory. It'd probably end up being useful later.

And, I had been right. We _did_ have first hour together. Geometry. Looked like I wouldn't be thanking my lucky stars for awhile. Hayner scurried around me and into his seat, leaving me to be inspected by the teacher, a man going by the name of Mr. Sark. I'm sure the kids called him _Shark _behind his back. Hay-nerd would owe me one for being his scape goat.

"New student?" I answered with a nod and handed him my late pass. Mr. Sark just waved me off and told me to find a seat, then _jumped_ (sarcasm, yeah?) into a discussion about perfect squares and how to find them. It was far too early for my mind to understand just what he was talking about.

One of the only free seats was behind a girl with slate colored hair covering one red eye and an apathetic look on her face. My other option was I broad shouldered kid with hair the same color as Hayner's binder. I chose the less annoying looking of the two. I ended up regretting it later, of course, but that's later. I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

First period ended with a slowly approaching headache, and Hayner clapping me on the back and thanking me for not ratting him out or something. I grunted and shrugged him off.

"Hey, what's your next class?"

Having not bothered to memorize my schedule yet, I had to get it back out. The paper looked abused and smeared from having been stuck in my palm for the first half of math class, until I remembered it. "Honors English 10 with a Mr. ...Barbosa? Is that how you say it?"

Hayner grimaced and nodded. "He's a son of a bitch. At least, that's what Olette tells me. I have _normal_ English, so I wouldn't really know. Anyone that can get Olette to cuss, though, must be bad. Good luck." And with that, he left me. Didn't even point out what direction I should go in. Bastard.

I managed to find my class and not be late but just barely. Olette ended up being a green eyed girl with wavy, brown hair and far too much orange on her. I didn't know what was up with people and that color in this town, but it was already annoying me. I had never liked the color in the first place. Barbosa sat me down next to her after chewing me out for almost being late, then started a discussion about _Oedipus the King. _I nearly choked, having totally forgotten about summer reading in the whole death, murder, moving, Cloud's gone nuts fiasco. Olette took pity on me and discreetly handed me her notes. I silently forgave her for her orange excess and thanked her.

Third period was gym. In Radiant Garden, you had to take it all four years, but it was different here. You only had to take it two. Gym wasn't so bad, physical activity helped me clear my head most of the time, anyway. It was in gym I met the youngest Leonhart for the first time.

Well, not met so much as...He ran into me. Literally. His head ended up knocking into the same spot Cloud had punched me that morning. It _hurt. _Again.

The coach, a short, round little man by the name of Phil, had us playing basketball. There were some juniors in the class that had either failed or had chosen not to do gym one year, and a group of them thought it would be funny to trip up one of the new kids. Leonhart ended up being the unfortunate victim. The juniors ended up hitting two birds with one stone, though, because Leonhart ran straight into me.

We ended up in a pile of limbs on the floor, the basketball I had gone to shoot came soaring straight back down and landed on my forehead with a thud. The headache I had managed to fight off in second hour came back in a painful rush, and I groaned.

"I'm so sorry!" Leonhart untangled himself from me and helped me up, blue eyes looking worried. Their color was much too bright for my headache to stand, and I ended up looking away.

"It's alright," I muttered.

He wouldn't let up and dusted my shoulders off. He was lucky we had changed out, because if he had ruined my Absinthe T-shirt, I would've put him on my hit list. For eternity. "Are you sure? I didn't hurt you, did I?"

I tried fruitlessly to wave him off and stumbled over to a bench to sit down. "No," I told him, "You didn't hurt me. I already had a headache..."

He frowned and sat down next to me, worrying his bottom lip in a way that made me itch. I didn't know whether I wanted to smack him for it or ask him to do it to _mine._ "I just made it worse, then, huh?"

Before I go on, I guess I should also tell you some things about my time in Radiant Garden, to clear up the whole lip worrying thing. In Radiant Garden, there were these pair of twins named Axel and Reno. Reno has originally lived in Midgar and had glued himself to Cloud's hip. Cloud wasn't exactly fond of him. Why Reno didn't live with his twin was because their parents were divorced. Their dad took Axel and booked it out to Radiant Garden. Their mom stayed in Midgar with Reno, much to Cloud's dismay. By the time I went to live with Cid, their parents had gotten back together, bringing Reno along for the ride. Cloud couldn't have been happier about it, I'm sure. Axel hadn't been too bad. A dick at first, of course, but that's just who he was. Still is, probably.

We ended up being best friends some how. Before we officially had that title slapped onto us, I had begun to notice how _good_ he looked. Crayon red hair, too green eyes, long limbs, and a bad ass attitude, though I can't really do him justice. I guess you could say he's what made me realize I liked men. One day, he stopped in the middle of a conversation, tilted his head to the side, and laughed. Just laughed. When he calmed down, he kissed me and said, "Maybe now you'll stop giving me those weird looks, Rox."

We never got into a relationship. Our personalities just didn't mix that way. He was all fire, power, and passion. I was more muted, a deep thinker, and, though I don't like to admit, I'm a bit of a romantic. Axel is a lot more physical than I am.

Cut back to Sora.

I shrugged and didn't deny that, yeah, he had made it worse. All I said was, "Don't worry about it."

He stopped biting his lip, but his teeth had left little indents. He had scabs in the same places, so I guess it was a habit of his. "If you're sure...I'm Sora, by the way. I'm new here."

I rubbed my fingers in circles over my temples, trying to ease the monster pounding in my head back a bit. "Join the club. I figured, anyway, with all the talk. I'm Roxas."

A grin lit up his face, and I decided that the kid didn't look too bad. Crazily spiked brown hair, bright blue eyes, and tanned skin that just about screamed islander, and a smile that could probably make grown men-- hell, maybe even make _Cloud--_ melt. "You're new, too?"

"Either that, or I'm missing something here."

He laughed, though I hadn't actually intended to be funny. Sarcasm's just in my nature. "Hey, maybe we could be friends! Help each other out?"

I wasn't too sure about that, but before I could answer, Phil had us get up and jog laps around the gym for sitting down. The ball rang somewhere into our third run, and I didn't see Sora again when we went to change out.

He wasn't in my next class either, but both Hayner and Olette were. They waved me over to their group table, sitting with another boy. He was a bit rounder, with black hair and a bandanna. His name was Pence.

"Hey, Roxas, meet the last member of the gang."

Pence waved and smiled. "'Sup?"

I just shrugged and took the seat next to Hayner.

Fourth hour turned out to be biology with a rather large woman named Ursula. Everyone agreed she was a witch. She had us taking notes out of the textbook, but I had left mine in my locker. Pence slid his across the table and told me I could share with Hayner, since he had forgotten his, too. Olette and Pence could just share, anyway.

I met all three of my new best friends the same way: Pity. It's almost ironic in retrospect, since it wasn't even about something they should pity me for, considering my family situation and all. Or should I say sympathy instead? Whichever you prefer.

Come lunch time, my headache had dimmed down, and I was starving. Cloud and I had the same lunch, and he had been planning on not eating. I managed, through threats to his motorcycle and then cowering in fear of another punch to my probably bruised nipple, to convince him to just buy lunch and eat, like a normal person. I didn't say the normal part out loud, of course.

Hayner had me sit with his group in one corner of the cafeteria. I asked if my brother could sit with us, but Cloud mumbled something along the lines of, "No, thanks," and ate lunch outside. I had wanted him to sit with us, so I could make sure he actually _ate_, but I wasn't going to mother him. If he chose to make himself sick, that was his choice.

Biting into an apple, Hayner asked, "So, what's the deal with your brother, anyway?" Olette smacked him for his lack of tact, and as though by divine retribution, he choked on his mouthful of fruit (future pun intended, though I really should stop getting ahead of myself).

I shrugged and bit into some limp, tasteless French fries. "Two of his best friends died."

That brought on a sort of awkward silence. Finally, Olette managed to say, "I'm sorry, Roxas, that's terrible!"

"Yeah, is he going to be okay?" Pence asked.

I shrugged again and neglected to say the probably expected, "It's not your fault." Remember that I hate it when people say that. Hayner chose not to say anything about it, and for that, I was grateful.

The Leonharts shared the same lunch as us. Sora spotted me and smiled, waving. I gave him a halfhearted wave back. I sincerely hoped he wouldn't come sit with us. As bright and cheerful as he was, he was bound to bring my headache back. Today was just not a day for sunshine and smiles.

That statement was backed up by Sora's older brother getting into a fight with Hayner's _least favorite_ (please tell me the sarcasm was noticed) person in the universe, Seifer.

I didn't hear anything they said, but Sora was the one who managed to break it up. The fight didn't last long and was on the opposite side of the cafeteria from us, but Hayner made us all get up to go watch. Anything to see Seifer get what was coming to him, I guess. I saw only the aftermath of the fight and was immediately able to tell who was who.

Seifer was a tall, blond guy with a navy belly shirt, Ore beanie, and white, sleeveless trench coat. I'm assuming he was going for a bad ass look, but I had seen better on people who weren't even going for _anything. _Sora's brother was a guy just as tall with a scar going across his face (I caught sight of a matching one after seeing Seifer's profile. I was standing behind him, you see, and only saw it after the girl I sat behind in first hour dragged him away. He also had a black eye, from the fight, I guess), steel gray eyes, and a mane of brown hair. Sora had a hold of one of his arms and was saying something to him that seemed to put his brother into neutral. He didn't calm, didn't get any angrier, just...sort of ceased to be anything, I guess. It was unsettling. It reminded of Cloud, when he would go silent in the middle of a sentence, eyes fogged over, and his whole being just stopping.

Sora caught my eye and it was then that I realized something: He and I, we were in the same situation.

It was that realization (and a junior named Demyx) that got us to be friends. Help each other out, like Sora had said before.

* * *

_Sora._

I know a lot of people say being the new kid sucks, but I enjoy it. Sort of. I get to make myself into a whole new person, make entirely new first impressions, and just generally meet new people. I guess I'm a people person, because I just _like_ meeting people. I know I said I can make myself into someone new, but I never really do. I adjust myself a bit to suit what situation I'm in, then go from there. I'm..._flexible_, I think that's what Leon had said once. I like that. I also said _sort of_ because, this time, being the new kid was kind of frightening. Twilight Town was bigger than Destiny Islands with a sure-to-be larger high school and, let's not forget, Seifer.

I was not looking forward to seeing him again. Especially not since I had given him something to remember me by. Leon wasn't too thrilled by the idea, either, since they were in the same year. I could at least avoid him. I hoped. With my sometimes horrible luck, I'd probably end up having a class with him or something, or lunch, and there'd be a fight. I just knew it.

I was kind of looking forward to meeting the Strife kids, though. They were new, too, and had a pair of siblings to match me and Leon. The youngest and me were going into the same year while the oldest was going with Leon. It's like we were paired up or something. Through whispers I had heard when I went into town for the first time, the oldest Strife son was a little..._unstable_, I guess is the word? Something had happened to him to make him crack and almost fall apart. It reminded me of Leon and Rinoa, and I hoped Leon would never get that bad. Then I felt guilty and selfish and bit my lip until it started bleeding. When I got home, I had a fresh scab and Leon noticed and smacked me with a rolled up newspaper. He keeps telling me I'll bite clean through my lip and bleed to death or something, but I'm never quite sure if I believe him or not. Riku once told me the same thing, but I knew _he_ was just teasing me. You never know with Leon.

Monday morning, I was up before my brother, which was a first. Well, not really, I'm never able to sleep on the first day of school. Leon's cool as can be and sleep's just fine, but I get a case of nerves and end up getting ready at six in the morning, when I'm meant to wake up at seven. I always regret it the next day. When Leon got up, he fixed breakfast and I wolfed it down. He smacked me with a newspaper again for having no table manners, and I purposely chewed with my mouth open. I have a bruise from how hard he kicked me under the table. I never bothered to check, but my Mom saw my knee and smacked Leon with his own newspaper. Justice was then served, and I decided wearing shorts wasn't the brightest idea.

Due to nerves and over excitement, I got to school early. Leon left a little after I did. He just _walks_ to school, while I ride my skateboard. Leon can be so boring sometimes. I got my schedule and everything, the lady in the office noting that I had a locker only three away from the other new sophomore. I was hoping I'd see him when I went to open mine, but I didn't. The lock gave me some trouble, but I managed okay. I stashed my board and most of my books inside, only taking my geometry and history book. I figured I'd need them, and I had history first hour anyway.

History was taught by a man with thin, wispy, probably originally white but tinted blue hair and sickly pale skin. He was almost legally blind, with milky colored eyes hidden behind bright yellow sunglasses. How did I know? When I sat down at an empty desk, he came over to me, leaned on my desk, tilted his shades down to stare me dead in the face and said, "Name's Hades. You can from now on associate me with the Lord of the Underworld. I'm sure we'll get along _great_."

I ended up sinking down into my seat and trying not to look at anyone else. My ears felt like they were on fire, and a few people laughed quietly. Now, I like making people laugh, but only when it's _with_ me and not _at _me. Who likes that?

The guy sitting in front of me turned around and grinned, sea-green eyes seeming to laugh, but not out of spite. He had his hair styled all weird, in a sort of half-mullet, half-Mohawk kind of thing. I admired his..._uniqueness. _He almost-whispered, "I'm Demyx. Don't worry, Hades did the same thing to me when I moved here."

I grinned along with him and actually managed a whisper when I replied, "I'm Sora. When did you move here?"

"Last year. I'm a junior."

I frowned a little. "Then why are you in sophomore history?"

He chuckled quietly and jerked a thumb in the teacher's general direction. "He failed me last year for a prank me and a senior friend pulled. We filled his desk drawers with water and bargain brand pet fish. He nearly _exploded_."

His laughter turned not so quiet and before I could get to the same volume, Hades seemed to _explode_ before my very eyes. He tilted his sunglasses down again to stare at me with his dead looking eyes, hissing, "Do. Not. _Talk. _In my. _Class._"

I gulped, sank back down into my seat, and squeaked something I hoped sounded like a, "Yes, sir." Demyx just smiled sheepishly over his shoulder at me as a sort of apology.

I didn't have second hour with Demyx, so I guess he passed geometry. I caught a flash of blond spikes when I walked into the classroom, and looked back to see who in the world could have hair _that_ yellow, but the guy was already gone. I shrugged and sat down in an empty seat.

Mr. Sark taught the class, and I almost accidently called him Mr. _Shark. _He was talking about perfect squares, and since math isn't exactly my strong suit, I took _a lot_ of notes and hoped to God Leon would help me with whatever homework we had in the future. I would so totally _not _pass otherwise.

Geometry ended up being pleasantly uneventful, so I went to gym with a smile. Changing out in the locker room, I caught another glimpse of blond out of the corner of my eye, but the kid was gone again by the time I looked. It took me a few tries to get my gym locker open, and when I changed into my shorts, a junior snickered at the dark purple bruise on my knee. I made a mental note to punch Leon in the ear when I saw him again. But then, you know, I remembered the last time I did that and shuddered. I hadn't been able to sit down right for three days. And I know what you're thinking, but he just kicked my ass! Literally. Gutter dwellers...

Anyway, I had always liked gym. Not even the too small shorts bothered me most of the time. Being active was always something I enjoyed. Leon says I have A.D.H.D. He's probably right. Phil, the coach, has us playing basketball. He pretty much said anything goes, so long as we weren't sitting down, 'cause then he'd make us run. I wouldn't mind either way, since I liked running and I liked basketball. Both were fun in their own way.

I started to shoot some baskets and the same junior that had laughed at my knee was using the same hoop with some of his friends. They elbowed each other and whispered and laughed. I'm sure it was at me, and, no, I'm not paranoid! I _know_ it was at me, 'cause next thing I know, I'm being tripped. All I see before I collide with someone's chest is bright yellow and a pair of shorts, then I'm on the floor.

Looking up, I finally see who those blond spikes belong to. It's a kid in my year with skin a little paler than mine, pretty blue eyes, and amazing hair. But maybe I'm biased. Who knows? I was only able to tell how pretty his eyes were because of how close we were, since he had his eyes squeezed almost shut from being hit in the forehead by a basketball. Then I realized the position we were in and that I had probably hurt him, and I freaked out a little.

Standing up quickly, I helped the blond kid up, too, squeaking out an, "I'm so sorry!" The juniors behind us were laughing it up, and I bit into my lip from embarrassment. My ears felt like they were burning again, and I was pretty sure I was going to split my lip open. Leon would probably hit me when he saw. (Maybe then I'd get a chance for revenge for my poor, abused knee. It's all his fault I ended up falling into the blond kid, anyway! Him and that junior. Angry grumble...)

I caught the kid's eye, but he looked away from me. "It's alright," he muttered.

I didn't know whether or not to believe him, with how he was holding his head and grimacing and all. For all I know, that basketball could have given him a minor concussion or something. "Are you sure? I didn't hurt you, did I?" I was pretty sure that if the basketball hadn't, I certainly had. I brushed off his shoulders to be certain and almost brushed off his shirt, but stopped and felt my ears burn some more. Had I gone to check where I had hit him, I would've brushed his nipple. Talk about _awkward. _I didn't want him to think I was trying to feel him up or something on top of everything else.

He waved his hand and started to make his way over to a bench. I followed and sat down next to him, still biting into my lip. "No," he told me, "You didn't hurt me. I already had a headache..."

I chewed on my now split lip, not even feeling the sting since I did it so often. I felt _incredibly_ guilty, and realized that I probably made his head hurt even more. "I just made it worse, then, huh?"

He gave me this _look_, one I recognized from seeing Leon and Rinoa hanging out together. I never knew exactly how to place it, what to label it as, but it always made me uncomfortable to see it on my brother's face. That was just not something siblings saw each other do. On this blond kid, though, it made my stomach clench and roll. It should've made me nauseous or something, but I kind of liked the feeling.

"Don't worry about it," he said.

I frowned, but stopped biting my lip at least. He stopped giving me that look, too, and my stomach settled down. I felt heat pooling there instead, and it made me squirm a little. To avoid awkward silence and to get my mind off that feeling, I said, "If you're sure...I'm Sora, by the way. I'm new here." As though that wasn't _obvious._

He rubbed his temples and leaned over a little, resting his elbows on his knees. I felt guilty again at having worsened his headache, but didn't know what to do about it. "Join the club. I figured, anyway, with all the talk. I'm Roxas."

Just my luck! I end up making a probably humiliating first impression on the _other_ new kid. I had been wanting to meet him all day, though, so I didn't let that thought stop a toothy grin spread over my face. "You're new, too?" I almost faltered when I realized how ridiculous I probably sounded. Of _course_ he was new! State out the obvious much, Sora?

He gave me another look, one I could categorize as sarcastic, and rolled his eyes. "Either that, or I'm missing something here."

He probably wasn't trying to be funny, but just the way he said it and the look on his face made me laugh. I figured he was probably a pretty sarcastic person, which kind of reminded me of Riku. Butterflies came to life in my stomach at the thought of him, then were squashed dead because this was not Riku, this was Roxas. Roxas was probably straight, too, nonetheless. That didn't mean I couldn't be friends with him, though, right?

So, I asked him, "Hey, maybe we could be friends! Help each other out?"

I didn't get to hear his answer, though, 'cause Phil caught us sitting down and made us run laps. The juniors laughed at us the whole time, and I was too busy trying not to make a fool of myself to talk to Roxas again. He just concentrated on his breathing, so he wasn't going to jump into conversation any time soon either.

I didn't see him in the locker room, which kind of disappointed me. I made sure to hit the junior who had tripped me with my backpack on my way passed him, then hurried out of the locker room as quick as I could before he could hit me back.

My next hour was choir, which I had with Demyx. It was taught my a red faced man with an accent, who told us to call him Sebastian. Before class started, Demyx introduced me to two of his friends, a boy named Zexion who had most of his hair over one eye, and a small, blonde girl named Naminé. Zexion looked like he really didn't want to have anything to do with singing, and Naminé told me she would rather have art than choir, but Demyx had convinced her to join. She was a sophomore, too, while Zexion was a junior with Demyx.

Choir didn't turn out to bad. In fact, I really liked it. I thought Sebastian had O.C.D, but he was pretty funny in this accidental sort of way. He gave us a break every now and then, and Demyx and I joked around. We got along pretty well, and Naminé reminded me a lot of Kairi. When I told her that, she said she actually knew her. They were cousins. People turned to look when I squealed and hugged her and said that she absolutely _had_ to tell Kairi I said hello and that I missed her _terribly_. Naminé just laughed and said that, of course, she would.

Zexion didn't say much, but he was okay. He reminded me a little of Riku on his bad days, and I guess I needed someone like that in my life. You know? I guess I needed someone with a head on their shoulders, to fill the spot Riku had once been in. I shook that thought off and smiled at him whenever he caught my eye. He looked flustered whenever I did, like he wasn't used to stuff like that (or maybe he thought I was trying to flirt with him? I hope not), and Demyx teased him until the boy got so fed up, he smacked him with his textbook.

They invited me to eat lunch with them-- or, Demyx did, anyway --and I agreed to, after I checked up on my brother. I caught Leon in the lunch line, thankfully, and managed to catch a glimpse of Roxas. I grinned and waved when he saw me, and he gave me a lazy wave back that made my stomach feel funny again. Leon caught me smiling like an idiot, followed my gaze to Roxas, and rolled his eyes. I was glad he didn't say anything.

I almost made it to Demyx's group when Seifer found us.

"Hey, lamer, what are you doing here?"

My brother glared and said calmly, "Eating. How about _you?"_

Seifer matched his expression. "I was here first, bitch. Don't you dare try the same thing you did back in Balamb. Don't you _dare_."

Leon stiffened, and I just _knew_ something was going to go down. Someone was going to start a fight. I didn't know who yet, but I set my tray down on a table, taking Leon's from his clenched hands. Demyx came over and moved our food over to his group, just in case, and gave me a thumbs up. I knew than we'd probably end up being really good, maybe even best, friends. I gave him a thumbs up back, and didn't catch the next words exchanged between Seifer and Leon, but I didn't need to.

Leon snapped and attacked, fists flying. Seifer reacted, shouldering into my brother's chest. A little winded now, Leon tackled him, and they ended up on the floor.

I knew getting in trouble for fighting on your first day wasn't exactly a good idea, so I went straight to work at trying to pull my brother and Seifer apart. Seifer was pulling at Leon's longer hair now, and my brother was trying to knee him in both the groin and the gut at the same time, so pulling him off was a little difficult. He grunted when I tried to haul him off, which made Seifer just pull harder at his hair. Demyx got up to help me, and Seifer's friends, a girl with red eyes and a larger, broad shouldered guy helped him up.

Leon scowled, snapping, "You had to resort to _hair pulling?_"

Seifer scowled just as hard and shouted, "You bit me, you son of a bitch!"

Leon made to reply, but I tugged at his arm, waving Demyx off. He back up, and I murmured to my brother, "Leon, _please! _Do you really think this is what Rinoa wanted for you two? You were almost friends before!"

I knew that was a low blow, but I had to. I couldn't see any other way to make him stop. And he did, completely. He went still and expressionless, and I knew I had hurt him. Seifer must have seen it, too, because he turned away and let his friends lead him out.

Demyx came back over and I let him clear a path back to the table. As we passed by a group of kids, I caught sight of blond spikes again.

My eyes locked onto Roxas', and it was like something happened between us. I'm not trying to sound corny, or anything, but...There was almost an..._understanding_, I guess.

In that moment, I realized exactly what Roxas and I had in common. Our brothers were both in...rough spots. I had heard before, of course, but this...This really put it into perspective.

I think Demyx noticed it, too, because he looked over at Roxas and his friends as they began to walk away, then looked back at me. "Isn't he the other new kid?"

I nodded and sat down, sitting Leon down next to me. I pushed his food over to him, but he looked away. I knew he wasn't going to eat today. I sighed, and turned back to my new friends. "Do you know if it's true? About his brother?"

Naminé shrugged. "I'm not sure. Probably." Zexion just shrugged.

It was then that Demyx got a plan forming that would help all four of our lives-- Leon's, mine, Roxas', and his brother's --in the long run. Thanks, Demyx.

* * *

_Author's Notes: _Woah, Nelly. That took, like, two hours. And a half, because I was interrupted by my mow mow, who I originally named Alphonse, but my parents refuse to call anything but Biscuit. In case you didn't know, "mow mow," means cat. That's just what we call them in my house. Also, on another random side note, have you ever noticed how clever some of Sara Bareilles' lyrics are?

Anyway. I was really going for getting Roxas' and Sora's personalities out there this time, instead of just background. And, also, introducing them (and you!) to who their friends are going to end up being. Roxas, obviously, has Hayner, Pence, and Olette. Sora was a little harder to do, but I knew, for a fact, that Demyx was going to end up being one of them. Zexion normally follows Demyx in my mind, but he's not really a friend, so much as an acquaintance. Someone else will soon replace him. Naminé was a must, as you'll soon find out.

Things I'd like to mention: How you can have _bargain brand_ pet fish is beyond me, but let's not question Demyx's logic, okay? Also, all of the teachers will end up being different Disney characters. Most will be villains, but there will be the occasional side character where it's appropriate. Brownie points if you try to guess who will end up teaching what. Fencing will soon be a club, too, by the way.

The lyrics this time were from Everlife's, "Go Figure." Catchy song, really.

Oh, and I've changed the pairings a tad. There's now Zexion/Demyx and Olette/Pence. Naminé, I'm going to want to pair her up with _someone_, but I haven't decided yet. Hmm...

Kudos to all who review, alert, favorite, et cetera. I hope I at least make you giggle somewhere.

Also, if you catch any spelling or punctuation errors or whatever, tell me? Some of the ones in Sora's point of view are intentional, like him saying, "me and Leon," or something. I just figured it would be how he'd talk.

I feel like I'm fogetting something...


End file.
